


Some Kind of Cure, Amnesty Week

by lilyfarfalla



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, M/M, SGA Saturday Prompt Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyfarfalla/pseuds/lilyfarfalla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I hear she came to Atlantis to get her M.R.S.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Kind of Cure, Amnesty Week

**Author's Note:**

> AU-ish timeline, and probably in desperate need of a beta. Also, not really sure what the point of this one is, but back in the fall I was listening to a melancholy but pretty song (natch) and the idea for a story along these lines came to mind. In my head, I called this one lemon chicken for Jennifer!

“I hear she came to Atlantis to get her M.R.S.,” she heard.

“Hmmmm,” said another. “Too bad.”

There was a spate of laughter. Jennifer kept walking.

In her head, she paused and turned to the women at the table and said, “Really? ‘M.R.S.’? Did we fall into a time hole and go back to the 60s?” But she didn’t feel like getting into a food fight in the mess today.

_Though at this point, it might help my popularity._

Jennifer broke with Rodney when she found out, months after the fact, about the competition he and Ronon apparently had over the right to –

_what, date me…or fuck me?_

She sat her tray down at a table with some of the nurses, who nodded cordially at her. They, at least, would never side with McKay the Menace.

_Not that I’m bitter, or anything._

Jennifer probably could have gotten over the competition thing. She had a ready joke about feeling like Princess Jasmine, which could have segued nicely into a short reminder that women were people too, Rodney. Except when she brought the competition up with Rodney, he was so proud. As if the idea of being _fought_ over like, well fuck, like she was a _possession_ was supposed to be a compliment.

And there Jennifer had thought she was making friends and sometimes making out with new friends.

_Because the thing is, you don’t go to another_ galaxy _to find a boyfriend._

There are and will forever be plenty of pink-cheeked, strong-armed, lovely boys back in Wisconsin. If Jennifer wanted to find a man and get married, that’s the first place she would go.

“Dr. Keller, I’ve been meaning to ask. Delia and I want to switch our schedules, is that alright with you?” one of the nurses asked. _What was her name, Jeanette something?_

Jennifer smiled in response. “Fine with me, but you’ll need to check with the DON. She sets all the schedules.”

“Oh right, thanks Dr. Keller.” She waved in response, and the pair wandered out of the mess.

Jennifer turned back to her food. The nurses might be on her side (though she couldn’t believe there were _sides_ in this thing), but it was hard to be friends with the boss. That was something Rodney had understood.

Jennifer sighed and picked up her not-beet, not-burger. It was delicious, but she sometimes wished the mess staff would stop naming things based on what they weren’t.

She was considering pulling up some reports to read on her computer while she ate when Colonel Sheppard sat down at the table with her.

“Mind if I join you, Dr. Keller?”

Jennifer shook her head no, her mouth full of Pegasus vegan burger.

She sometimes thought it was weird that he’d always called her Dr. Keller, and perhaps because of that, she always thought of him as Colonel Sheppard in her head. Weird, but it worked, maybe because Sheppard tended to be formal with people who weren’t on his gate team. And unlike whole of the science staff, he didn’t seem to blame her for “breaking poor Rodney’s heart,” a phrase that always made Jennifer roll her eyes.

She finished chewing and swallowed. “So, what do you think,” she said, pointing to the burger. “Pegasus Vegan Burger?”

“Hmm, Processed Pelloa Patty?” he countered, with a small grin.

“Ooh, nice one, with the alliteration.”

Colonel Sheppard gave a ‘who me’ shrug, and Jennifer took another bite of her burger.

The thing about Colonel Sheppard, Jennifer thought, staring down at her plate, was that of everyone on Atlantis, he was one of the few who had a legitimate reason to dislike her based on her relationship with Rodney.

She sat back in her chair and turned her gaze on Sheppard. He was eating and futzing with his handheld, probably playing one of the games that kept him entertained every time he was in the infirmary.

Rodney was pretty oblivious to most things, up to and including if other people were interested in him. But after he and Jennifer had started dating, she had noticed a few regretful glances from Sheppard, a couple of fraught moments between him and Rodney, before understanding struck. And yet, he’d never been anything but kind and cordial to her.

A part of Jennifer wished he would make a move. Rodney happily dating someone would probably get the grumpy science staff currently suffering under Rodney’s “depression” off her back. And as annoyed as she still was with Rodney, it would be nice to see Colonel Sheppard a little happier. He liked to put on a devil-may-care persona, but the circles under his eyes seemed deeper with every subsequent infirmary visit, and Jennifer knew that it was nice to have someone to hold onto in the night when you were afraid.

She felt a prickling of tears at the corners of her eyes and took a deep breath. _Well, I’m definitely was not masochistic enough to be the one to get them together._

She and Sheppard sat and ate their food, chatting about some of the funnier mishaps that brought gate teams to the infirmary. Teyla joined them after a couple of minutes, and the conversation turned to Torren and his ability to squeeze into some of the strangest cubbyholes in Atlantis.

Jennifer finished her PPP (Teyla had rolled her eyes a little when Sheppard asked about names for the not-burger before suggesting the abbreviation), and was about to head back to the infirmary when the emergency klaxons sounded.

Colonel Sheppard was on his feet immediately, talking low and fast into his comm. Teyla gracefully popped the last of her sandwich into her mouth and stood, pushing her chair back under the table in one movement. Jennifer pushed back her chair and dimly heard it fall to the ground behind her, but she was checking in with Dr. Biro one minute and requesting all emergency medical personnel to report to the infirmary immediately.

And then the three of them were jogging out of the mess hall, and Jennifer shouted “Keep me informed” at Sheppard while Teyla quickly squeezed her shoulder and then split off to go do their jobs.  



End file.
